“Sage MIP Fund Accounting and Sage Fundraising 50 are an integral part of our operation—these tools help us to better fulfill our mission.”
Lynette Jeffres,
Office Manager,
CWC Foundation
Sage Nonprofit Solutions earns high marks from Central Wyoming College Foundation
The Central Wyoming College Foundation (CWC Foundation) is the fundraising organization for Central Wyoming College, one of Wyoming’s seven community colleges. The college enrolls more than 1800 students, and is one of the nation’s top 100 Associate degree producers for Native American graduates. Charged with raising, receiving, and administering gifts to the college, last year the CWC Foundation awarded 324 scholarships totaling more than $300,000. To track its fundraising activities and manage its internal accounting, the CWC Foundation relies on Sage Fundraising 50 and Sage MIP Fund Accounting.
“We have a large mission, but a small staff,” explains Lynette Jeffres, office manager for the CWC Foundation. “Sage Nonprofit Solutions really simplifies our work. With this solution we can be very productive while still keeping our overhead costs low.”
Targeted Fundraising
Recently, the Wyoming State Legislature approved a gift-matching program where the state will match any gift, dollar for dollar, to an endowed fund. To maximize the benefit of this program, the CWC Foundation generated a special appeal message to previous endowment fund donors. With Sage Fundraising 50, contacting this subset of donors was simple. “Before fully utilizing Sage Fundraising 50, we wouldn’t have been able to target the group,” explains Jody Ray, office assistant for the CWC Foundation. “The ability to send messages to select recipients is invaluable to us.”
Two years ago, Ray remembers juggling more than 15 spreadsheets holding various donor lists. “We never felt confident we had all the information, or the latest information. With Sage Fundraising 50, we are more efficient.” As a case in point, Ray refers to the annual Oktoberfest fundraising event. “With Sage Fundraising 50 we can identify last year’s advertisers and donors easily and send them a letter, right from the software, asking them if they’d like to run the same advertisement or donate the same item as last year. We get better results with a lot less effort.”
Jeffres and Ray are just starting to build an alumni database within Sage Fundraising 50. “We know that our alumni are a great potential-donor pool, and with Sage Fundraising 50, we have the tool in place to gather and track this information.”
Donors See Their Money At Work
The CWC Foundation uses Sage Fundraising 50 to track and associate scholarship donors with scholarship recipients. This association makes it possible for the foundation to invite the donors and past recipients of a particular scholarship to be in attendance as new scholarships are awarded each year. A major donor who funds a large endowment for the college’s nursing program looks forward each year to meeting the new recipient and visiting with past years’ recipients, “There’s always a crowd around her—she just loves it,” Ray says, “It would be much harder to pull this off each year without the software.”
Jeffres explains the value of having those donors and past recipients in attendance, “The donors love it because they see exactly where their money is going. We build a special rapport with that donor as they see their donation is helping an individual, not just an institution. And, as past recipients graduate and join the workforce, we’re hoping their connection with the college turns them into donors too.”
A recent fundraising campaign, Walk With Us, encourages donors to buy a stone to be placed in a new pathway on campus. The pathway leads to the soon to be constructed Intertribal Educational and Community Center, giving donors a sense of ownership in the project. Using Sage Fundraising 50, the CWC Foundation is able to earmark funds specifically to the program of the donor’s choice. “We use Activity Codes within Sage Fundraising 50 to help us determine how well the campaign is doing and the source of our funding,” says Ray.
Fund Accounting Solution
The integration between Sage MIP Fund Accounting and Sage Fundraising 50 is particularly valuable to the foundation. Jeffres says it gives her a check and balance system that would be much more difficult to follow with two completely separate systems.
The CWC Foundation uses Sage MIP Fund Accounting to manage 77 endowment funds. The foundation also manages commercial real estate which is leased with the proceeds supporting the foundation’s mission. With Sage MIP Fund Accounting the foundation is able to track and report on its funds and assets—across multiple cost centers and through varying budget periods. Jeffres is impressed by the powerful reporting tools within the software. “I can pull specific data regarding a fund, an activity code, a cost center, or restricted and unrestricted funds. I can really get any report I need from the system.”
During the foundation’s annual audit, the detailed audit trail and secure, yet user-friendly operation of Sage MIP Fund Accounting earns praise. “Our auditor loves the software,” says Jeffres. “We’re able to give him precisely what he wants to see.”
Jeffres credits Sage MIP Fund Accounting with saving the foundation the cost of hiring an outside accounting firm to manage its books. “We’re able to manage it all in-house, which frees more money for our programs. Sage MIP Fund Accounting and Sage Fundraising 50 are an integral part of our operation. These tools help us to better fulfill our mission—Enhance the quality of life through innovation and excellence in education.”
